I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for paging and data buffering in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services may be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems may be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Such wireless communication systems can be utilized to implement, for example, a wireless wide area network (WAN) data network. In such a network, a paging procedure is utilized to initiate communication of data from an access gateway (AGW) to an access terminal (AT) through a data attachment point (DAP), which can be an access network associated with the access terminal. During the paging procedure, data to be communicated to the access terminal is buffered by an entity in the network.
Conventional approaches to data buffering and paging in wireless WAN data networks often result in inefficiency due to delay and/or overuse of backhaul resources. In one such conventional approach, data is buffered at a DAP during paging of an access terminal. However, if the access terminal is not within the coverage area of the DAP, the DAP typically must tunnel the data to an access network that serves the access terminal, which results in delays and significant increases in the amount of backhaul resources utilized. In another conventional approach, the access gateway is used to trigger paging of an access terminal and to buffer data during paging. Under this approach, however, backhaul resources must be utilized to regularly inform the access gateway of the state of the access terminal. Further, unnecessary delays may be introduced if the access terminal remains within the coverage area of a DAP.
Accordingly, there is a need for techniques that minimize delay and required backhaul resources associated with paging and data buffering in a wireless communication system.